If I don't do this now it may never happen.
The first time I read this was years and years ago. I was maybe nine or ten. Honestly, I don't really remember it. Which seems wrong, but I think I was maybe the wrong age. After rereading it I wish I had read it when I was twelve or thirteen - just barely becoming a teenager. Anne is so smart and clever, but in many ways just like every other teenager. She can be moody, rebellious, callous, and full of self importance. Clearly, her circumstances are unique but she is a real girl who does not instantly rise above her situation and become a saint. I like that she is inconsistent in her feelings and thoughts, she is not a character in a story. The amount of time she has for self-reflection is almost painful.
"As I've told you many times, I'm split in two. One side contains my exuberant cheerfulness, my flippancy, my joy in life and, above all, my ability to appreciate the lighter side of things. By that I mean not finding anything wrong with flirtations, a kiss, an embrace, an off-color joke. This side of me is usually lying in wait to ambush the other one, which is much purer, deeper and finer. No one knows Anne's better side, and that's why most people can't stand me. Oh, I can be an amusing clown for an afternoon, but after that everyone's had enough of me to last a month. Actually, I'm what a romantic movie is to a profound thinker - a mere diversion, a comic interlude, something that is soon forgotten: not bad, but not particularly good either. I have having to tell you this, but why shouldn't I admit it when I know it's true?"
I have a feeling I'm going to try and make my nieces read this if they have not already. I feel like they should know Anne. Anyways, after reading this I was encouraged to start this whole thing and to even start writing to a Kitty of my own (I don't really call it that!). I'm not half as articulate, or observant as Anne but that doesn't matter.
Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
I regret not starting this blog earlier! This collection of stories is amazing but I'm not sure how to sum it up for a short little blurb thing. I love love love Neil Gaiman. He is insanely creative and original. The way he makes story ideas so unmistakably his is something to be admired. I admit that I was biased to begin with before reading this but I feel that at least three quarters of the stories lived up to my expectations.
"A Study in Emerald" - Sherlock Holmes and the Great Old Ones can exist in the same universe! How could my little fangirl heart not love this story? Holmes/Lovecraft/Gaiman. "The fingertips were clean of ichor." It's almost a shame that this was the first story in the book.
"Strange Little Girls" - Ah... Tori Amos, it's been so long. "One day she won't love you, too. It will break your heart."
"Harlequin Valentine" - I always enjoy Puck-ish characters and the Harlequin does not disappoint but neither does his Columbine. Side note: I saw the graphic novel version of this at the comic book store but I wasn't too into the artwork. Sad.
"The Problem of Susan" - After reading this story, I will probably never read The Chronicles of Narnia. Thank you, Neil Gaiman. It just occurred to me that this is sort of a fanfiction. Granted, it's a fanfiction written by Neil Gaiman.
"Feeders and Eaters" - Grotesque and horrifying. Also, I don't think I'll ever be able to eat rotisserie chicken again.
"The Monarch of the Glen" - Another appeal to my heart. This time he hit the literary nerd nerve (nerd-nerve... hee) too. Shadow, from American Gods, has an adventure while on vacation in Scotland. An adventure which involves the best fight scene ever with Grendel! The idea of Shadow still roaming the Earth makes me happy. I feel like things will always keep happening to Shadow so it's good to check up on him. Gaiman takes on the idea of what it means to be a monster in a way that is not preachy or obvious, and this was the perfect story to end the collection.
There were so many great stories! Some I had already read ("Instructions" and "The Day the Saucer's Came"). One, "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" I listened to a reading Gaiman did of it on his website. It must be awful for British men who do not sound ridiculously charming no matter what they are talking about.
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Why couldn't there have been a huge Young Adult book movement when I was growing up? I borrowed this from Hayli. She is reading the series (yay!) and I heard good things about it via Pop Culture Happy Hour. I finished it in one night. The story was instantly engaging and told in a simple, straightforward way. Collins makes world-building seem so easy and natural. Of course, it did make me think of a less bloody, more nuanced, PG-13 version of Battle Royale.
There are two more books to read and Hayli is eager to talk to me about them. I think that is the most appealing thing about reading this book. Not only is it great that she's excited about books (and books of the non-Twilight variety), but I like having something to share with her.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Murakami, how have I made it through 25 years of my life without reading everything you have ever written? Could I ever be odd enough, or beautiful enough, or even tragic enough to be a character in one of your novels? If I was, would I want to be? Why do you write lovely women who are so flawed in such mysterious ways? What would you do with a female protagonist?
Having read two other Murakami novels (Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and South of the Border, West of the Sun), I felt I would be prepared for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. And I was in some ways, but not in others. The length of the novel (607 pages) was a little daunting, but when I was half way through in just a few days I found myself not wanting the story to end. I just wanted to climb deeper and deeper into the well. There are so many narratives within this one story that it is surprising how everything fits. Every character has their own story to tell, and their stories are what shape Toru Okada's world.
The women in this story are all so different from one another, but with the exception of May Kasahara all seem to share this otherworldliness that sort of distanced me from them. Even though they are central to the plot, a lot of the women are almost too ghostlike, too ornamental, not real enough. Which is why May is great of course.
" 'Hey, I'm still a kid, ya know. I don't know anything about marriage. I don't know what was in your wife's mind when she started fooling around with another man or when she left you. But from what you just told me, I think you kinda had the wrong idea from the very beginning. You know what I mean, Mr. Wind-Up Bird? What you were just talking about... I don't know, it's kind of impossible for anybody to do that stuff, like 'OK, now I'm gonna make a whole new world' or 'OK, now I'm gonna make a whole new self.' That's what I think. You might think you made a new world or a new self, but your old self is always gonna be there, just below the surface, and if something happens, it'll stick its head out and say "Hi." You don't seem to realize that. You were made somewhere else. And even this idea you have of remaking yourself: even that was made somewhere else. Even I know that much, Mr. Wind-Up Bird. You're a grown-up, aren't you? How come you don't get it?That's a big problem, if you ask me. And that's what you're being punished for-by all kinds of things: by the world you tried to get rid of, or by the self you tried to get rid of. Do you see what I'm saying?' "
There are so many great moments and so much depth to this story. The lengths the main character will go in order to reunite with his wife are amazing and surreal. The power of the mind and memory are explored in ways that are compelling and unique. So much so, that I was exhausted (in a pleasant way) after finishing this. There are no loose ends, even when a character seemingly has disappeared. But everything is not explained either, for that would ruin the mystery of it all.
" 'As you are well aware,' the man continued, his voice soft but penetrating, 'in the course of life we experience many kinds of pain. Pains of the body and pains of the heart. I know I have experienced pain in many different forms in my life, and I'm sure you have too. In most cases, though, I'm sure you've found it very difficult to convey the truth of the pain to another person: to explain it in words. People say that only they themselves can understand the pain they are feeling. But is this true? I for one do not believe that it is. If, before our eyes, we see someone who is truly suffering, we do sometimes feel his suffering and pain as our own. This the power of empathy.' "
The war is over. Already. Seriously? I feel like there was way more prep time and very little actual war time. I wish the opposing forces would have put up some sort of effective resistance, at least for a little while. The Bigby/Emperor showdown was nice. I didn't even mind Blue jumping in. Snicker Snack indeed. And hey Prince Charming and Sinbad had the best bromance of the series going. Geppetto... seems like a cop out. I do love Fables, but I think, for now at least, my Fables journey is at an end. It seems like a natural stopping place for many reasons, but the war being over helps.
And that... was January.
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